Steaua Bucuresti – Otelul Galati
Football : Romania : Liga 1
“Ghencea” stadium, Bucharest
Friday 12 March 2010, Kickoff: 20:30 GMT +2

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Steaua Bucuresti (3rd) 10W 6D 4L 29-20

Steaua accumulated only 2 points from the last three games, but two of them were on the road and were against CFR Cluj and Unirea Urziceni, top 2 teams on the table. The last time they started the second part of the championship this bad was in 1979-1980, when they registered a negative record of 5 draws and 1 defeat in 6 games.

The reason for such a bad start this season is the central defenders, Zhirko Zhelev and Alex Tudose, who never played together before and are considered the weak point of the team. Steaua conceded 6 goals in these 3 games.

They have a poor record considering their home games, only 15 points in 10 games but one of the reason for this negative performance may be the fact that they lost the support of their fans, and the battle between the club owner and the fans amplified with the decision of the club to close a sector of the stadium, where the Ultras SUD used to stay.

The Romanian giants are under a tremendous pressure, if they fail to win this game, there is a high probability that their coach, Mihai Stoichita could leave the team, fact admitted by him.

Steaua has 7 players who may miss the next match against Dinamo Bucuresti if they receive a yellow card, and knowing that against Dinamo is the most important match of a season, they cannot afford to play very aggressive.

Romeo Surdu and Bogdan Stancu (both forwards) will miss this match due to some late time injuries, also attacking-midfielder Cristian Tanase is recovering after an injury and he is expected to play only next stage, against Dinamo, while left-back Ifeanyi Emeghara is still unavailable after a long injury.

Steaua Bucuresti Squad :
Zapata – Golanski, Tall, Jelev, Art. Karamyan – Szekely, Ov. Petre, Plesan, Nicolita – Kapetanos, Arm. Karamyan

Last 5 Steaua Bucuresti home results :
20.02.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 18 Steaua 1-3 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt
13.12.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 17 Steaua 3-2 International Curtea de Arges
29.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 15 Steaua 2-1 FC Vaslui
09.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 13 Steaua 2-0 Apulum Alba Iulia
25.10.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 11 Steaua 1-1 Rapid

Otelul Galati (9th) 9W 4D 7L 24-24

Otelul made a huge surprise last stage, winning against leader, CFR Cluj, making it their 4th victory in a row. This streak lead them to just 4 points behind a Europa League spot, which would be a tremendous performance for this team, which has a small budget.

The recent success could be explained by the professionalism of their coach, Dorinel Munteanu, who gave his team a winning mentality that they did not had before. Munteanu coached Steaua in their last UCL campaign (2008-2009) but he left the team after an argument with the owner. So he has a personal revenge to take against the team that launched him in the European football when he was a player.

Otelul Galati is the only team that has maximum points from these last 3 games so they travel to Bucharest with a good morale, even if their last victory against Steaua in Ghencea stadium was 13 years ago.

Otelul has a record of 4-1-4 in away games, scoring 9 goals and conceding 12.

They have a young team, with an average of 24.5 years of their first 11, mostly players grown in their own academy.

Otelul Galati Squad :
Grahovac – Salagean, Perendija, Costin, Rapa – Giurgiu, Neagu – Ochirosii, Paraschiv, Antal - Pena

Last 5 Otelul Galati away results :
26.02.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 19 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt 0-1 Otelul Galati
06.12.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 16 FC Vaslui 1-1 Otelul Galati
20.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 14 Apulum Alba Iulia 3-1 Otelul Galati
01.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 12 Rapid 3-0 Otelul Galati
18.10.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Gloria Bistrita 2-1 Otelul Galati

The Betting Verdict :

With Steaua desperately needing the points and Otelul playing a good, attacking football there are many ingredients for a match with more than two goals.

I am expecting Otelul to take advantage of Steaua’s defensive fragility and score at least once and if they are able to kepp a clean sheet in the first 30 minutes then there is a good chance they could go away with at least one point.

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Consider over 2.5 goals @ 1.95

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Otelul AH +1.25 @ 1.85 Bet365 (main bet)